


The One Who Stole My Heart

by MissMyMy



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: AU, Angst, Child Abuse, Childhood, Coming of Age, Crime, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Romance, Set after Season 2, Spirits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-12 17:57:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13552608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMyMy/pseuds/MissMyMy
Summary: Jinora is fairly content with her simple life after harmonic convergence but things change when she meets street urchin Skoochy, who is unsure of where his own life is heading. The two form an unlikely friendship all the while trouble seems to be on the horizon with a new threat. Painful pasts come back with a vengeance and unsettling viewpoints are brought to attention.Set after season 2, not in continuity with the last two seasons.





	1. Bad Time to Pick a Pocket

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a Avatar: Legend of Korra fanfiction that I posted on Deviantart some time ago. It's been on hiatus for a while now because I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue with it. So I'm going to post the existing chapters and see if I decide to go on with it. Here's the first chapter, I hope you enjoy the story. Please feel free to leave comments.

"Furry-Foot, wait up!" Jinora laughed out as she ran through the fields of the spirit world with her dragonfly bunny spirit friends. They ran around for a while longer until Jinora got tired. She stopped near the foot of a mountain to catch her breath. Then suddenly, her spirit friends lifted her up by the shoulders. “Huh?” She was brought into the air. “Hey, where are we going?” They continued to accelerate her until finally they reached the top of the mountain and set her down. “Why’d you bring me up here?” she asked with confusion. Suddenly they went before her and turned into vivid balls of color and came together forming a heart. She heard wind behind her and turned around to see an entire meadow of fully bloomed panda lilies. She gazed in awe. And again her vision was met with a new sight. Just beyond the meadow, there was a girl and a boy embracing each other. She looked closer at the girl seeing that she was wearing air nomad robes and had brown hair.

It was her.

She tried to see who the boy was but his face was blocked by her own, but she could tell that his clothes were green. She attempted to walk towards the scene but found herself falling into nothingness still watching her and the boy she was embracing.

Jinora’s eyes opened as she woke up from her dream. She looked around to see she was in her room and not in the spirit world. She got up and got dressed for the day wondering the whole time what that dream meant and who that boy was.

 

Skoochy walked down the urban streets of Republic City with his hands in his pockets, keeping an eye out for any possible “business”. He’d noticed a handful of other pickpockets that crossed his path, but never once had he associated with them. He was a lone wolf. Always has been. Since last year he grew a few inches and was now at the tender age of 14. It wouldn’t be but a few years until he was put out of the orphanage. But he preferred not to think of that.

He scanned the crowd for wallets while trying to avoid one particular person. And then…

BULLSEYE!

Not too far ahead of him was a tall man wearing luxurious robes adorned with fine trimming. Around his shoulder was a handbag that reached down just below his hip. On top of that, the man didn’t seem to be paying much attention to anything. It was perfect.

Skoochy moved past the other people in the crowd to get to the man. He crept up behind him, making sure that no one saw him doing so. Swiftly, he reached into the bag and pulled out a billfold. The boy backed up and began to walk away. But of course-

“ROWR!”

Skoochy looked down to see that he had stepped on a cat’s tail. “Crud!” he thought to himself. He quickly turned around to see that the sound had caught the man’s attention and he was looking right at him. His eye widened when he saw that he had taken his billfold. There was no way to talk his way out of this. Skoochy took off like an eel hound. “STOP! HELP! THIEF!” the man yelled. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a cop running after him. He just ran even faster. Everyone looked at the pursuit with shock and interest. Skoochy jumped over stands and even earthbended a few rocks to slow him down. It wasn’t until he looked back to see how far he was from the cop that he didn’t notice someone waterbend a trail of ice in front of him. He slipped on the ice and was sent flying in the air then landed in the fountain. 

The police officer walked up to him with a disapproving and annoyed look on his face.  
“Skoochy. Why am I not surprised?” He cuffed his hands, “You’re under arrest kid.”

All Skoochy could say was, “Aw crap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a short intro. I know that the dream sequence is not super complex, but it wasn't really meant to be. You'll see more of these two in the next few chapters. Thanks for reading!


	2. Count For Nothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's another chapter literally right after the first one. This one is a bit longer than the last one. Here it is!

“EW! Meelo cut it out!”

Ikki and Meelo were playfully sparring with each other and were doing a fairly good job, but Ikki finally had enough of Meelo’s constant “fartbending.” The younger airbender just laughed as he continued his antics.

Jinora stood against the wall of the temple dressed in her air nomad garb that had been modified into a dress that went just above her knees. She also now wore a red shawl rather than an orange one, but still kept her knee high boots. Rather than interested in the frolics of her younger siblings, the twelve year old girl’s mind was still on the dream she had earlier. Being the intelligent child she was, she could tell when there was a meaning to something. There were hearts and flowers so it obviously had something to do with love. But who was that boy?

“Hey there, Jinora!”

Jinora jumped in surprise and saw her Uncle Bumi next to her. “Oh, hi Uncle Bumi, I didn’t see you there.”

“Well that’s odd. You’re usually the perceptive one little missy. Something bothering you?” he asked oddly suspicious.

Should I tell him about the dream? “Well…I-” 

“Was it about that dream you had?” Ikki asked as she airbended herself over to them.

Needless to say, Jinora was shocked. How could she have known about that?

“Yeah, you were mumbling in your sleep this morning. What was it about? Was it something scary? Or was it in the spirit world or something? ”

Before Jinora could answer her younger sister’s questions, Meelo showed up and interrupted them.

“Uncle Bumi, what kind of dreams do you have?”

The ex-commander turned to his nephew as if about to tell one of his outrageous stories. “Well there was this one time where I was up against my old arch nemesis, the shark-squid… ” Not wanting to hear another one of her wild uncle’s anecdotes, Jinora walked away. She sighed to herself at the thought that she would never find out what that dream meant.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The young pickpocket dragged his feet as he walked down the street with Mrs. Ling, the owner of the orphanage that he lived in, talking his ear off. After his arrest earlier, he had been allowed one phone call. When Mrs. Ling got down to the police station, she was furious at him. Despite the tongue lashing, Skoochy was glad that she showed up, because she was somehow able to talk the police into giving him community service rather than keeping him imprisoned. He wasn’t too crazy about it but hey, it was better than carving soap behind metal bars.

“And if I EVER have to have this conversation with you AGAIN…!”

“Hello there,” a small scratchy voice said.

They both turned their heads to the left to see a little girl that didn’t even come up to 4 feet. She had long scruffy jet black hair that was put in a low ponytail. Her face was puffy and her body was tiny, even for her age. But the most noticeable feature about her was her right eye. It was such a deep cloudy shade of gray that you could barely see her pupil. It was obvious that she was blind in that eye but most people didn't know that she was also deaf in her left ear.

“Oh, Hello Jingfei. How are you today?” Mrs. Ling greeted, breaking away from her angry demeanor.

“Hey Jingfei,” Skoochy greeted less enthusiastically.

“Me? I’m fine. But what’s wrong with grumpy?”

“Well Mr. Pickpocket here,” she begun to explain, grabbing him roughly by the shoulder in the process,” thought it would be a good idea to steal a man’s wallet.”

“What? He was good for it,” he interjected only to result in her tightening her grip on him. He clenched his teeth.

“So I had to go down to the police office just to get him,” she finished.

Jingfei grinned in amusement. “I thought I heard a ruckus earlier. That was you Skoochy?”

He remained silent.

The child laughed, “That explains so much. So what’d they give ya?”

Skoochy grumbled, “Community service.”

She smirked, “Well, better hope it ain’t scrubbing toilets.”

He shot her a glare. Then Mrs. Ling tugged on his arm.

“We need to get home Skoochy. Bye Jingfei.” They started down the street again.

“See ya Mrs. Ling. Later Skoochy."

When they were for down enough, Skoochy finally said, “I wish you wouldn’t do that.” She loosened her grip on him. “And I wish you wouldn’t feel the need to steal.” He looked away from her. She sighed to herself. The boy was never going to change. When they arrived at the orphanage, Skoochy could already see peering eyes inside of the windows. He prepared himself for what was to come. As they entered the orphanage, the children were already out in the hallways and hanging about the stairs. Some of them were grinning at him. Others were holding back their laughs. When Mrs. Ling finally let him go, he took no time going up the stairs and heading to his room. On his way, he saw Wily, the oldest boy at the orphanage (just 2 years older than him) all the way at the top of the stairs in his red shirt and black pants. The boy was a bit taller than Skoochy. His messy hair was black, his skin was a fair complexion, and his eyes were piercing amber, signifying that he was a fire bender. He was grinning like a loon, with his little minion attached to his hip. The girl’s name was Rena but she called herself Honey. She was pale with dark hair put into a pigtail over her shoulder with bangs swept to the side. Her deep blue eyes were covered by a big round pair of glasses. Her choice of dress was a blue dress with darker blue tights, a dark cropped jacket, and tall kamik boots. They taunted him as he passed them.

“What’d you do this time, steal from a little girl?”

“Sloppy Skooch, very sloppy.”

Skoochy ignored the two and went straight to his room. After changing, he went to bed, not in the mood to eat dinner. He stared up at the ceiling thinking deeply to his self. Was a petty thief all he was ever going to be? Probably, since he couldn’t seem to put forth effort in being anything else. He was at a point where he couldn’t talk to himself about this anymore. He needed someone else to talk to. He needed a friend. But who would be friends with him?

 

After a long day of being caught between reality and the unsureness of that dream, Jinora went to bed early, not really hungry. She laid in her bed looking out the window. She wished that this dream wasn’t getting to her so badly, but she needed to know. She closed her eyes, trying to sleep. “Grandpa Aang, what does it mean?”


	3. Nice to Meet You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm procrastinating on my school work so here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. :)

Jinora woke up feeling better than she did the day before. She felt refreshed, in a way. Even reassured which was quite contrary to her mood the day before. She didn’t know what brought about the change but she sure wasn’t complaining. As soon as she got out of bed she stretched and then dressed herself with a smile on her face the entire time. She went over to the window and opened it. The cool breeze blew onto her skin and through her hair. Then she looked past her window, beyond the island, to gaze at the proud statue of Avatar Aang. A bright smile came onto her face, “this is going to be a good day.” She decided to forget about that dream. It was probably not a big deal anyway.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skoochy got up bright and early, bathed, then put his clothes on rather quickly. Today would be the day that he would start his community service for the next month and quite frankly, he just wanted to get it over with. For breakfast, he ate what was supposed to be his dinner last night and really didn’t care regardless. On his way into the hallway, he bumped into someone. "Hey! Watch it!" He knew that voice. He turned around to see Rena, or Honey rather, looking at him with haughty disgust. "Oh, it’s you." He decided she wasn’t worth his time and walked past her saying, "Whatever Rena." Her head snapped around, "it’s Honey, dirt bag!" She always got touchy whenever someone called her by her real name. For what reason, no one knew. "Whatever," he said walking away while she shot daggers at him.

At the end of the hallway Mrs. Ling stood by the door waiting for him. "Ready?" she asked. He nodded sourly. "You don’t have to walk me there y’know." She gave him a look, "I’m just seeing to it that you actually get there." He mentally rolled his eyes and walked outside with her. At the gates, he saw two other kids that lived in the orphanage. They were identical twin girls by the names of Jia and Xia. They looked exactly alike except that Jia's hair was in two ponytails instead of one and Xia had a mole underneath her right eye. They had been reunited at the orphanage a few years ago after being separated at the age of 2 and being brought up in different environments by either parent. Jia grew up in a middle class neighborhood with her mother and was book smart, whereas Xia grew up in the slums with her father and was street smart but they were both fairly upbeat. Growing up with either parent, they had to listen to one always trash talking the other. Despite their trials and tribulations, they liked looking at life with a positive attitude. Something Skoochy almost envied. They were having a rather odd conversation about tiger sharks but turned their attention to Skoochy and Mrs. Ling when the saw them. Bright smiles were plastered on their faces. "Good morning Mrs. Ling!"

Mrs. Ling returned a smile to them," good morning ladies, how are you?"

"We're fine! Hi Skoochy!" they said simultaneously.

"Hey," he responded rather half-heartedly. The girls frowned at this. Xia humphed," You don't have to be a grump, y'know." Then Jia chimed in, "Yeah not our fault that you have to go pay your dues."

"I'm just not exactly a fan of false kindness." he responded unfazed.

"Who says it's false?" they said once again simultaneously. He hated it when they did that. He was about to say something else before he heard a sudden boom. Suddenly, the air around them was filled with smoke. They all were having coughing fits. "Sorry!" called a familiar voice. "*Cough* Really *cough* Shen?" Xia managed to cough out. A boy with brown hair wearing goggles using a mechanical fan to blow away the smoke, "Sorry about that, I put the wires in the wrong place." Sheng was a teenage boy that was about 5'3 who was a self-claimed genius by the age of twelve. He loved inventing all sorts of things but he had a habit of accidentally blowing things up and setting things on fire. He took off his goggles after finally clearing out the smoke. "All clear Mrs. Ling!"

"Shen, that's the third time this week!" Mrs. Ling chastised.

"Yeah, it's a new record," Skoochy added sarcastically.

Shen went to go pick up the remains of his invention, "Don't worry, I'll tone it down a notch." Mrs. Ling sighed in frustration before walking past the gates, "Let's go Skoochy." The boy followed her. As they strolled along down the sidewalk, Skoochy kept his gaze downward. When they were passing the spot that Jingfei usually stood, he saw that she was not there. "Maybe she woke up late," he thought. Continuing down the street, he noticed that a lot of people were looking at him. Some with disapproval and others with interest. Probably due to his little spectacle yesterday. He also noticed two girls that were whispering and looking particularly stuck up. He had seen them around town but they never said a word to him. Jingfei told him that they were two rich girls that went around gossiping about people. Skoochy despised people like that. He almost turned around and told them to mind their own business but he thought better of it. Minutes passed and they were finally at the community service center. They went to the registration desk where there was a young girl, in her early twenties perhaps, talking on the phone and chewing on something. Mrs. Ling tried to get her attention, "Excuse me." The girl didn't seem to hear her and continued talking on the phone. She tried again, "Young lady." Not only did she not respond to her but she laughed at something she was listening to on the phone. Skoochy had had enough.

"HEY LADY! COULD YOU STOP CHEWIN' YOUR CUD AND PAY ATTENTION?" He crudely shouted.

This seemed to get her attention as she looked up in surprise. "I'll call you back," she said before hanging up the phone. She gave him a cross look, "Can I help you?" "I'm here to do my community service," Skoochy said before Mrs. Ling explained. "I'm just dropping him off." The young woman handed them a checklist, "sign in here." He did so then handed it back to her. "Just go down that hallway, make a right, and they'll be waiting for your son," she directed before picking up the phone again. "He's not my son." "Good for you." Skoochy glared at her then Mrs. Ling pulled his arm, leading him down the hall.

A broad man with a trim goatee, wearing working overalls stood waiting near a boxed crate. "Hello sir. I'm dropping off Skoochy for his community service." The man looked at them expectantly, "this is him, huh?" he said eying the adolescent. He didn't look at him in disapproval or any kind of negativity. In fact, the look was very neutral. "Well, he's right on time. Just come back around seven." "I can walk home myself," he said stubbornly. "Please try to behave Skoochy, I'll see you at home," she said before turning to the man, "please call me if there’s any trouble."

"I assure you, he's fine with me."

"I meant if he causes any trouble." Then she finally left.

The man turned to Skoochy, "Skoochy right?" He nodded in confirmation before his face was met with a pair of gloves and a working jumpsuit. “You can start by helping me load up the truck,” he said walking towards the exit of the building. Skoochy pulled the clothes off of his face with a scowl. Then he took a deep sigh and sucked it up. This is going to be a long day.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jinora was seated at the dining table during breakfast, enjoying the company of her family. Her mom was holding Rohan in her lap while trying to feed him. Although it was creating a small mess of tofu on his bib, she smiled in content. Her father was having another back-and-forth with her Uncle Bumi. Meelo just scarfed down his food not seeming to have any acknowledgement of the world around him. It was not necessarily a peaceful setting, but to Jinora, it was relaxing. 

That is until she felt Ikki’s eyes peering into her. She kept patient for a few seconds before turning to her younger sister, “what is it?”

“What’s up with you? I mean yesterday you were all doomy and gloomy and now you’re all sugar and rainbows.”

Jinora chose to ignore that odd comparison and gave a shrug along with a small smile, “nothing, I just...felt moody yesterday and now I feel fine.” Ikki gave her a rather skeptical look then it quickly changed into shocking realization. The older sister assumed that she was going to say something else having to do with ludacris fairytales but instead she said something much worse.

“Mom! I think Jinora’s having one of those ‘woman’ things that happens once a month!” she blurted out.

Jinora’s faced became hot red with embarrassment. She looked up at her family to see that they were all looking at here with either panicked or confused looks. Suddenly she lost her appetite. So much for a normal family breakfast.

“W-what! Already?” Pema stammered in disbelief obviously not in favor of her daughter being exposed to menstruation yet. Tenzin followed in suit, “Jinora, why haven’t you said anything about this?”

“I’m not! It’s nothing like that! I swear!” she quickly responded. Her mother sighed in relief, “Oh thank goodness.” “Mommy, what ‘woman things’ is she talking about?” Meelo asked without a clue of what was going on. She flashed a nervous smile to him, “nothing, I’ll tell you when you’re older.” 

“If it’s not that then why were you so moody yesterday?” Ikki continued with relentless pursuit. “Ikki, you remember don’t you? She had that dream,” Bumi reminded her. “Ohhh right.” This caused Pema and Tenzin to look at Jinora with interest once again. “Dream? What dream?” Tenzin asked with concern. “I tried to ask her daddy but she wouldn’t budge,” Ikki added once again. Jinora shifted in her seat uncomfortably. This was incredibly awkward. Pema gave her a sweet smile, “Honey, you know you can tell us anything.” Jinora knew that this was true but there was no way under any circumstances that she would mention her embracing a boy in front of her dad, even if it was just in a dream.

“Um..I...need some air,” she said, excusing herself from the table with everyone’s eyes on her.

Jinora walked along the walls on the outside of the temple running her hands through her growing hair. “UGH! Why did she have to say something? I was doing just fine,” she vented in frustration. Then after the frustration faded away, she considered other thoughts. “Maybe I did brush it off too easy. But how am I even supposed to understand it?” Nothing had ever been this hard for her to figure out so why was this? Her eyes drifted over to the docks and saw a delivery boat. There were two people coming off of it. She went over to a tree to get a closer look.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skoochy’s first official ‘job’ for his community service was helping the man, whose name he learned was Lok, deliver a few packages to the Air Temple Island. Skoochy, like many other people, had never been to the island before. He never really thought too much of it before but seeing it up close and personal was really something. The teenage boy took a minute to look around at the scenery before turning to Lok for instruction. “Okay Skoochy, we got a total of four packages,” he grabbed a box out of the boat. “You take this one,” he handed it to him, “and this one,” he then set a small package on top of it. “I’ll take the other two,” Skoochy suddenly said. Lok gave him a look, “you sure about that?” He nodded, “yeah, I can take it.” “If you say so kid.” he grabbed the other small package from the top then set the two bigger ones on top of Skoochy’s before setting it back on top. Skoochy strained just the slightest bit from the extra weight. He gave Skoochy an amused smile “you okay there, tough guy?” Skoochy frowned, not amused, “I’m fine.” 

He walked up to the temple, adjusting the boxes every few minutes. His eyes began to wander but came to a stop when he saw someone by a tree. She was young, probably about his age, and she had on air nomad clothes, so he assumed that she might’ve been an acolyte. Her dark brown hair blew in the wind and her brown eyes were full of gentleness and curiosity. He was so caught up with the girl that he didn’t notice the crack in front of him and tripped. With a yelp he went down and groaned as soon as he felt the impact of the ground. 

Jinora ran over to him in worry, “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” She grabbed him and helped him up. “I think so.” She picked up one of the boxes, “You probably shouldn’t carry so many boxes at once.” He grabbed the box from the other side, “ I got it.” He looked up and saw that she was looking right at him. They both just stared at each other for a moment before Jinora let go and they awkwardly looked away from each other. “I’m Skoochy by the way.” “Jinora.” Where have I heard that name before? Skoochy thought to himself. Then it hit him. “Hey, you’re Councilman Tenzin’s daughter right?” She looked a bit sheepish, “Uh yes.” He picked up the small package, “I think this is for you.” Jinora took it and read the label, “Oh! It’s my book. Thanks.” “No problem.” A moment of silence passed. “Well,” he begun as he picked up the boxes, “I gotta get these where they need to be.” “I can show you where to put them if you want,” she kindly offered. “Sure, why not?” 

Jinora walked with him to the front doorway. “You can just set them down here. I’ll let my dad know.” He did so and then turned to her. “I should, uh, get going now. I got more work to do.” “Okay. Um, it was nice meeting you.” He gave her a crooked smile. “Yeah, you too. See ya.” He turned his heel and left. “Bye.” As she watched him walk away, she found herself transfixed on his hair. It looked so familiar. Then she thought back to the dream. She gasped. No, it couldn’t be.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skoochy made his way back to the boat to find that Lok was still planted in the same spot as he was before. He had secretly wanted to stay for a bit longer to talk to that girl. He would never admit this of course but he felt some kind of wierd connection when he talked to her. It might have been just small talk but it felt...different. Lok snapped his fingers to bring the boy out of his daze. “How did it go?” he asked. “It was fine, like I said.” Lok’s stoic expression turned into one of amusement. “Did you have a nice fall?” Skoochy looked away in embarrassment and anger. The older man just laughed at him before they boarded the boat. As they rode towards the city, Skoochy’s gaze never left Air Temple Island.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Jinora and Skoochy got to meet each other in this chapter. We'll see what becomes of these two later. See ya!


	4. Nothing to Lose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp, here's chapter 4. I have to admit, I made quite a few corrections on this one. It's amazing what you can overlook even when you go over something twice.

SLURP! SLURP! SLURP!

 

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

 

WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

 

HA! HA! HA!

 

MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH!

 

Skoochy’s eye started to twitch as he was surrounded by annoying sounds at the breakfast table. Between Jia slurping her soup, Sheng hammering on one of his inventions, that stupid dog that the kids were always bringing to the table against the better wishes of Mrs. Ling, the group of girls laughing loudly at whatever they were talking about, and the kid sitting next to him (whose name he could never remember) who was munching on like 3 carrots at a time, he was really starting to lose it. Then he looked over near the end of the table to see a kid fast asleep with his head on the table. He didn’t need to look any closer to tell that the boy was Moto, a kid who fell asleep at random times. Mrs. Ling said that he had a disorder. Narcolepsy or something like that. Even so, he didn’t get how he could sleep through all the noise. But maybe that was because he was now adding onto it with his snoring. Finally, Skoochy stood up from his seat.

“Would you all please SHUT UP?!” he shouted, pounding his fists down on his plate, causing his food to fly up into the air. Everyone at the table was silent. Even Moto, who did not wake up, ceased snoring. Skoochy took a deep breath, “thank you.” SPLAT! He felt what was supposed to be his breakfast land right on top of his head.

“Well that’s one way to serve an okonomiyaki,” Xia joked. This caused all of the kids at the table to laugh their butts off. Skoochy was far from amused as he looked like he was about to erupt again. “Skoochy,” he heard from behind him. He turned around to see Mrs. Ling standing at the doorway. Her face dropped as she noticed what was on his head. “Um...” “Don’t ask,” he interjected, “Just don’t.” After recovering a second later, she said, “Mr. Lok called.” “He says he needs you down at the center today.”

 

“I thought I didn't have to go today.”

 

“You didn’t, but he says that if you go today, it counts as part of your community service,” she explained.

 

“So basically, the more extra time I take, the sooner I’m off community service.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Skoochy sighed, “fine.” He walked pass Mrs. Ling and out of the kitchen. 

 

“But you should probably take a shower first.”

 

“Yeah, I figured that!”

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The young girl laid awake in her large bed, staring up at the ceiling. She had made several attempts to go to sleep, but nothing seemed to work. She knew what it was. It was the boy that she had met the night before. Since then, she couldn’t get him off of her mind. Their meeting was shy and somewhat awkward yet it was as if they had connected with each other. It was unlike any feeling that she ever felt. She had to see him again. Suddenly, she heard something hitting her window. She quickly sat up, startled, and looked over to the window. The sound came once again. The girl got up this time and walked to the window. She waited until another hit to the window before opening it. When she looked down, someone was standing in the courtyard gazing up at her. It was him. Her heart beat rapidly as anxiety filled her body.

“Good evening my lady,” he said with all the charm in the world. He even went so far as to bow. The gesture definitely did it’s job as she felt her heart beat increase. She was able to hold herself together and ask, “What are you doing here?” He gave her a sincere look. “I had to see you again.” Her cheeks became hot as her entire face filled with blush. It was as if he had read her mind. She tried to shake it off and said to him, "it’s quite late for a meeting, don’t you think?” The boy was relentless, “You’re already awake, are you not?” She had to give him a smile for that one. “Care to go for a stroll?” he asked boldly. She was a bit surprised but she decided to play it off. “I don’t usually walk with strangers.” He gave her a smirk, “well we aren’t strangers entirely.” He was right about that. They had even talked to each other already. “We haven’t been introduced. Not properly at least.”

He locked his eyes with hers. “I’m Wang,” he stated, “it’s a pleasure to meet you Miss-”

“Mei,” she finished for him. “and the pleasure’s all mine.”

“So, about that walk...” he lead. She giggled then said, “Wait right there.”

“Jinora?”

Jinora looked up from her new book that she was invested in to see her father standing in her doorway. She put her thumb in the book to hold the page as she closed it. “Yes dad?” she asked, hoping that he would not press her about the dream that was brought up a week ago. The incident at breakfast that day had made him very concerned about her and so he’d been trying constantly to get her to tell him. To say it was annoying was a bit of an understatement. She knew that he meant well but she was almost a teenager after all. 

He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, “So, um… how’s your book?” 

Although relieved that he was asking her about something else, she could sense his discomfort. She looked down at it before looking back at him. “It’s good so far. I’m on the fourth chapter.” “That’s good to know,” he responded with a bit of pleasantness.

And then there was an awkward pause. A really awkward pause. 

They both looked away from each other. Jinora did this out of discomfort. Tenzin seemed to show a hint of shame. Jinora was about to speak but halted when Tenzin sighed. “Jinora, I owe you an apology.” That caught her interest. “For what Daddy?” 

“Well I understand that I’ve been, for lack of a better word, obnoxious and I haven’t been giving you your ‘space.’ So for that, I apologize.” She was a little off guard by this. Had he already thought about this or did he read her mind? He continued talking, “It’s just that... Korra shut me out when she was troubled and I don’t want you to do the same. Shut me out that is.” Now Jinora felt a kind of bad. She didn’t know that he was worried that much. Nor did she see that she unintentionally distanced herself. Of course she knew that she was okay but he didn’t.

“Daddy, it’s not that serious. And I’m sorry that you thought it was. I know I’ve been distant but it’s okay, really.” she said, looking him in the eye.

“You’re sure that it isn’t still bothering you?”

“I’m sure. It was just a dream.” That wasn’t completely the truth. Though it was true that she wasn’t troubled by it anymore, she wasn’t so sure that it WAS just a dream. Especially since she met that boy. Skoochy. Secretly, she longed to see him again.

He gave her a relieved smile, “I’m glad to hear that.”

She returned the smile back to him. Finally, they could put it behind them. “Speaking of Korra, isn’t she supposed to be home soon?” Tenzin had a look on his face that looked as if he had forgotten to mention something. “I meant to tell you about that. I’m afraid Korra’s not going to be back for at least another month.” Her heart dropped at the word “month.” “That long? Did something happen? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” he reassured her, “things are just taking longer than expected. I advised her to take it easy after Harmonic Convergence but you know Korra.”

“Yeah...” Jinora replied somewhat depressed. Tenzin sensed this in her and decided to do something about it.

“Tell you what Jinora, I’m going into town to run some errands. Why don’t you come with me?” Jinora piped up almost instantly. In all the years that she had been a citizen of Republic City, she’d only been in town a time or two and it was under unfortunate circumstances. Now she had a chance to go by choice. She folded the page of her book and got off her bed. “I’ll get my shoes,” she said excitedly. Tenzin smiled fondly as his daughter raced across her room, went into her closet, and pulled on her boots in less than a minute.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skoochy finally made it to the Community service center. He ran his hand through his hair to see if there was still leftover food in it. When he confirmed that there wasn’t he walked into the building seeing an annoyingly familiar sight. Seated as always at the front desk was the young receptionist Kim. Skoochy couldn’t say that he cared much for the girl and vice versa. Not only was she lazy and rude but she was pretty much always on the phone, including this time. Yet, oddly enough, she always managed to notice whenever he was in her presence. He decided to go around her in hopes of signing in on the clipboard without her noticing. Initially, she seemed unmoved but when she suddenly stopped talking he knew that she noticed him. Kim turned to face him while still holding the phone to her ear and gave him a hard glare. “What are you doing here?” she asked with annoyance. “No not you,” she spoke into the phone, “hold on.” She put her palm over the speaker part of the phone. “Well?”

“Well for your information: I didn’t plan on being here. Lok called me in because he needed help. Doesn't seem like he gets much around here,” he said with an attitude.

“Yeah, funny how some people are actually busy working. You’ll understand someday.” She smirked then took her hand off the speaker. “Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you” he responded just as wry. He walked away, knowing that she was burning holes into his head, but he was so used to that it didn’t even bother him anymore. He went down the same hallway that he had gone through for the past week, made a right, and then found the room he was looking for to be wide open. As soon as he walked in, his eyes widened. The room was filled with packages, more so than usual. He could barely walk a few feet without almost hitting a pile of boxes. “Lok?” he called out. “Are you in here?” Skoochy made a way through the boxes as carefully as he could. “Over here!”

Lok was on a step ladder putting a label on a box at the top of a pile. “Good to see you kid.” Skoochy was now a few feet away from him. “What the heck happened in here?” The broad man descended from the step ladder. “A few things. Let’s see: the labels were placed incorrectly, the boxes were out of order, oh yeah, and everyone who was supposed to be here is either injured, has the flu, or had to do something at the last minute.” Skoochy took a moment to let it all sink in before saying, “well that’s a pretty sucky way to start the day.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” he simply replied, handing him his gloves and jumpsuit. “Well, we better get started if we want to get this done. Republic City wasn’t built in a day.” He went over to one of the piles and picked up a couple of boxes.

“Wait, we have to deliver all of this stuff TODAY?” the young boy said.

“Most of it,” Lok said. “I put the stuff going downtown into one pile, so that should make it easier.” He made his way towards the door then turned back at him, “well what are you waiting for? We got boxes to move.” Skoochy put on his work clothes and followed in suit. Same routine as usual.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

As Jinora walked with her father through downtown Republic City, she took a time to admire the tall, well-crafted buildings and relish in the cultural melting. There are so many shops and stands, she wanted to go to every single one of them. Staying on Air Temple Island didn't give her many shopping opportunities. Tenzin did let her order books from a catalog but it wasn't the same. She loved her home it felt really good to get out. It was like a breath of fresh air. "Jinora." She blinked a few times and looked to see her dad looking at her with confusion. "I was just saying we need to go into this shop."

"Oh, sorry dad. I was just admiring everything."

"It is quite breathtaking, isn't it."

"It is. It’s just-” she hesitated.

“Yes?” he urged.

“Well, I wish I could come into the city more often.” 

The aging airbender noticed the hint of misfortune in his daughter's tone. He thought to himself before saying, "well, why don't you?"

She looked at him unexpectedly. "Really? "

"You're at a reasonable age to go out by yourself. I don't see why not. You could even come see me while I'm in town if you want."

Jinora smiled so hard she swore her cheeks were going to burst. This day couldn't have gotten any better. The two walked across the street (well Tenzin walked, Jinora practically skipped) and went into a quaint shop. There were cases and shelves full of relics, books, and other kinds of things. There was a woman leaned back in a chair playing a pipa and singing with her feet on top of the desk. “Don’t fall in love with the traveling girl, she’ll leave you broke and broken hearted.” As Jinora and Tenzin approached her, she noticed and stopped singing. She got out of her chair and onto her feet. “Hey! Tenzin, what’s up?” She set her pipa to the side. Her outfit was a loose, one-armed tunic with loose trousers, flat shoes and a large flower in her wild hair. Jinora had guessed her to be a nomad. “Hello Malina, how are you?” Tenzin greeted back. “All’s well,” she said before turning her attention to Jinora. “Who’s this?” she asked. “This is my oldest daughter, Jinora.” 

Jinora smiled, “hi. Nice to neet you.”

“Pleasure’s mine little nomad. I like your aura by the way. The positivity is pretty awesome.” 

“Thank you.”

Malina turned back to Tenzin. “So, what can I do for you?” Tenzin reached into his sash, “I don’t need much, just the few things on my list.” He pulled out a list and handed it to her. She looked over it twice and said, “I think I have everything you need.” She headed toward the back. “Take as much time as you need,” Tenzin told her. “No worries, It’ll just take a few minutes,” she said as she went behind one of the shelves. A sudden crash caused Tenzin and Jinora to jump. “Uh, maybe longer than that,” she added. Jinora covered her mouth as she giggled at the woman’s misfortune. “Is she always like that?” she asked Tenzin. He sighed, “I’m afraid so.”

Jinora found her eyes glued to a clock that had all four element insignias going around it in a pattern. First water, next earth, then fire, and last air. Out of all of the artifacts in the shop, this one held her interest the most. A sound from outside broke her gaze. She looked through one of the windows to see a delivery truck parked across the street. A broad man got out of it and opened the trunk. He was soon accompanied by a boy and they begun to unload the packages. It was then that she noticed that the boy had brown hair. She recognized it. 

She turned to Tenzin, “Daddy, would you mind if I go outside for a bit?” “No, go right ahead. I fear Malina may take even longer than expected.” With that, she headed out the door. By the time she was outside, the two had already gone into the place they were parked at to deliver the packages. Jinora waited patiently across the street.

When Lok and Skoochy came out, Skoochy took a long stretch. “Can we take a break now?” Lok scratched his beard thoughtfully. “Well, it is our fourth stop in a row, so sure.” Skoochy sighed in relief. Lok grabbed another package from the truck, “I’m taking in this last one, I gotta talk to the clerk about something.” He went back inside the store, leaving a lounging Skoochy by the truck. He leaned against the truck, then looked down to see a newspaper on the ground. Curious, he picked it up and read the front page.

SEVERAL UNDER SUSPICION OF CONCEALING RELATIVELY NEW LETHAL WEAPON

Skoochy’s eyebrow raised in interest. He was about to read it until he felt a sudden gust of wind. "Hi." He looked up to see a girl in air nomad robes. It was the girl he had met on Air Temple Island. He found himself entranced once again by her bright, gray eyes. She was really pretty up close. Just then, he realized that he was taking too long to answer. Aw man, I forgot her name, he thought to himself. Say something stupid! Skoochy grinned and said, "hey toots." He mentally slapped himself. Toots? Seriously?

Jinora seemed a bit confused by what he just called her. Toots? She once heard someone call Korra that and he ended up frozen to a wall. Did that mean that he was flirting with her? She blushed at the thought then shook her head. No, he probably just forgot her name or something. "It's Jinora, actually," she awkwardly told him. 

"Right," he replied just as awkward. "I'm Skoochy."

"I know," she said smiling, "I remember you." Skoochy smiled back at her. That was the first time anyone remembered him and was actually happy about it. "You enjoying that book?" 

"Oh yeah, it's really good. So, is this your job?" She asked him.

It took him a moment then he remembered what he had previously been doing. "Uh, no. It's just community service that I gotta do." For some reason, he felt embarrassed to tell her that. It was weird because he wouldn't feel that way with anyone else. So why did he with her? She seemed more interested than put off. "Really? What for?"

"Pickpocketing," he answered bluntly.

She nodded in acknowledgement, "A guy I know was a pickpocket."

"Oh yeah? What happened to him?"

"He became a cop," she said.

"Huh."

She looked at the newspaper in his hand, "what are you reading?" Skoochy looked down at the newspaper in his hand. He shrugged, "some article about a new weapon. I didn't actually read it." 

She got next to him to look at the article and he held it up for her to see. "I heard my dad and Chief Bei Fong talking about that the other day. It's been an 'under the radar' topic for a while now."

"You think it's another war conspiracy? " he asked putting genuine thought into it. 

"I don’t think so. Right after the last one?” she lowered her head to see better, “maybe it’s a gang thing.”

“Triple Threat Triad?” he guessed, scooting in. “Could be,” she considered, “hey Korra’s in this article.” “Where?” he lowered his head and his cheek touched hers. A second later, they pulled apart from each other, blushing. “Uh, sorry.” he said. “It’s okay. Really.”

And that was the second time that day that there was an awkward pause but this one was even more awkward than the last. Jinora decided to break the silence, “so are you a bender?” He seemed to loosen up when she asked him that. “Yeah, I’m an earthbender. And you’re an airbender right?” He knew that was a dumb question. She was one of the only four airbenders in the world.

Jinora didn’t seem to care or acknowledge that fact. “Yeah, I am. Do you train a lot?” Skoochy stood up straight and said, “sometimes I do but I’m not exactly a master.”

“How old are you?” she asked. “I just turned 14. How old are you?” Jinora looked away, “twelve.” His eyebrows furrowed, “you’re twelve?” She looked at him confused, “yeah, is there something wrong with that?” 

“No, I just thought you were my age,” he said, “though, I probably should’ve figured as much when I saw you didn’t have any tattoos.” Jinora looked down at her tattoo-free skin. “I’m afraid I’m not a master yet either. But I should be getting my arrows by next year. Of course that means I’ll have to shave off my hair.”

“That seems like a waste of good hair,” he said, unknowingly complimenting her. She looked away with a small smile and started twirling her hair.

“Skoochy.”

They both turned their heads to see Lok standing outside of the shop. “Breaks over. We gotta move.” Skoochy sighed, “that was one of the shortest breaks I’ve ever had.” Jinora giggled at him. “It was nice talking to you. We should do it again sometime.” He thought about it for a second. Him, a no good, troublemaking pickpocket, make friends with her, a smart, by-the-book nice girl. It couldn’t happen. But then again, was he really in a position to turn down a potential friend? He finally nodded, “Yeah. I’d like that.”

She smiled, “okay. Great.” Across the street, she saw her dad coming out of the shop carrying things. “That’s my dad. I gotta go. Bye Skoochy.” And with that, she made her way back across the street. “Bye Jinora.” He turned around to see Lok giving him a serious look.

“What?” Skoochy asked. 

“Kid, she’s Councilman Tenzin’s daughter. Be careful.”

Skoochy rolled his eyes, “Jeez Lok, it’s nothing like that.”

Lok was skeptical, “Uh huh. Sure kid.” He got up on the ramp, “help me close this.”

Jinora met back with her father on the other side. “There you are. Ready to go?” She nodded and they walked down the sidewalk. When Tenzin wasn’t looking, she glanced over at Skoochy, who was helping Lok close the truck. As if sensing her gaze, he looked at her and they both smiled at each other. This was going to be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jinora and Skoochy both want to be friends. Wonder what future chapters hold for them.


	5. Day Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is the last of my finished chapters. It's a long one. Here it is.

Jinora stood still in the center of the room, looking down every so often at the new carpet with air nomad insignias stitched in. Then, she moved her head a bit to get the hair out of her face. “Hey! Stop moving!” her little brother barked at her from behind the easel. She rolled her eyes and held still. For the past thirty minutes, she had been standing in the same place, posing for a portrait drawn by Meelo. It was the last thing that she wanted to do. She did have somewhere to go after all. 

After meeting up with Skoochy the other day, the two had agreed on a mutual friendship and that they would hang out sometime. Since then, she had been ordering a lot more books, knowing that as long as he had community service he would be the one to deliver them. Aside from that, the only time they really had was when he was on break and that wasn't very long. Skoochy recently told Jinora that Lok was letting him take a day off since he went in on the day that originally wasn't supposed to. He chose that day to be today. Jinora was getting ready to go into town so that she could meet up with him but for some reason, Meelo really wanted to practice his artistic skills on her. She wanted to say no but when he gave her that look, she just didn’t have the heart. So, here she was waiting for him to finish.

“Meelo, are you almost done yet?” she said just the slightest bit anxious.

“Patience woman!” he chastised, “you can’t rush talent.”

“But I have to go.”

“Just one more minute,” he promised.

True to his word, he had indeed finished in that time. “Okay Jinora, I’m all done!” he announced wiping imaginary sweat off of his forehead. “Thank goodness,” she said walking to her bed to grab her bag, “glad I could help. Gotta go.” She headed toward the door. “Wait! Don’t you want to see it?” Jinora stopped and walked over to see his picture. Her eyes widened in amazement at what she saw. “Oh wow.” His drawing of her was incredibly detailed and intricate, especially for a 7-year-old. He even got the detail of her eyes right.

“Meelo, I didn’t know you could draw this good,” she praised. Meelo got puffy chested, “there’s a lot you don’t know about me sister.” He took it off stand. “Normally I’m a little on the expensive side but for you, it’s on the house.” Jinora gave me a look of disbelief. “You do realize that I did you a favor, right?” The boy waved his hand, “details, details.” She let out a small laugh before headed out of her room once more. “Just hang it on my wall, okay?” “Gotcha. See ya sis.” “Bye.”

She sped through the house and out of the door, she barely noticed when she passed by her mom and Ikki. Then Pema said, “Jinora, where are you going in such a hurry?” Jinora stopped and turned her, “Mom, didn’t I tell you? I’m going to go hang out with Skoochy.” Ikki seemed to perk up at this and clasped her hands together. "You mean your boyfrieeend?" Jinora glared at her, "Ikki, he is not my boyfriend. He's just a friend who happens to be a boy that I'm going to go hang out with. Is that okay?” Ikki kept her grin, “sure.” “Ikki, that’s enough,” Pema scolded then turned to Jinora, “have fun sweetie. Just be careful.” And with that, she was off.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skoochy blindly fumbled around his room with his pajama shirt over his eyes and head. After struggling for a few more minutes, he finally got it off then opened his dresser to retrieve a new shirt. From outside of his window, two girls he knew were sitting on the fire escape watching him.

“We probably should’ve woken him up,” Jia stated.

“He’s the one with the faulty alarm clock,” Xia pointed out.

“I know but still. If he doesn’t do his community service he’s gonna get in trouble.”

“Didn’t you hear? He’s not going today,” she replied.

She turned to her, “Really? So why’s he in such a hurry to leave?”

Xia looked to make sure that Skoochy hadn’t seen them, “okay, you didn’t hear it from me but I hear that he’s going into town to meet up with a girl.”

Jia was dumbfounded, “what girl?”

“Her name’s Jinora,” Xia whispered.

“Councilman Tenzin’s daughter?”

“Uh huh.”

“Their not... ?”

“They might be,” Xia considered, “Have you noticed how he’s been acting lately? Look at him.”

“I can hear you. And I will kill you,” Skoochy said suddenly, causing the two to duck. “We should probably stop doing this,” Jia inclined. “Yeah, probably,” Xia agreed. There was a revving sound coming from below. The girls looked down to see that it was Wiley with one of the latest models of the Satomobile. It was a shiny red color with a streak of blue. He reached over to open the door for Honey, who was acting like a giddy child. She squealed in delight as drove off without a care in the world. “Looks like Wiley’s got another toy,” Xia observed. “No kidding. How much do you think that costs?” “Not sure but knowing Wiley, he sure as heck didn’t pay for it himself.” Xia said with suspicion.

After getting fully dressed, Skoochy brushed his teeth, ran down the stairs, grabbed an apple from the kitchen, put it in his mouth and went out the door. “See ya Mrs. Ling,” he said taking the apple out of his mouth when passing her. “Wait, where are you...” he was gone before he even heard her “...going?” She leaned against the doorway, “what is with that boy?”

Skoochy eventually made it into town but slowed down to catch his breath from all the running he did. After finishing his apple, he tossed the core aside. He was now taking deep breaths while walking down the sidewalk.

“Hey stranger.”

He stopped and looked over to see Jingfei in the same spot she’s always at. He didn’t know why he didn’t see her there. “Hey Jingfei. Haven’t seen you lately.”

“More like haven’t noticed,” she snorted. “You sound out of breath. What’d ya do, run a marathon?”

“I woke up late,” he responded.

“Isn’t that your thing or something?” She thought for a second, “Oh, right you got community service.” 

“Not today I don’t.” he informed her.

She raised her eyebrow. "Is that so? So why are you-”

“Skoochy!”

Coming towards him was Jinora with a smile on her face and her hair swaying as she ran. When Jingfei saw her and how enthusiastic she looked to see him, a light bulb went off in her head. “Oh that’s why.” She smirked in amusement. Skoochy gave her a look, “shut up.” Jinora stopped a few feet in front of him and smoothed her hair out, “hi.” “Hey,” he greeted back. Jingfei stood next to Skoochy and nudged him. “Well don’t be rude Skoochy, introduce me to this lovely young lady.” Skoochy rolled his eyes and said, “Jingfei this is Jinora. She’s a friend of mine.” Jinora seemed to brighten at the simple proclamation. “Jinora this is Jingfei. I pass by her just about everyday.”

“Pass by her?” she questioned.

“Yeah, I’m usually out here all day. Don't get the wrong idea. I’m not homeless.”

“Oh. Well it’s nice to meet you Jingfei,” she said holding out her hand.

She took her hand and shook it, “same to you Jinora.” She leaned in closer to her. “Little piece of advice: check your purse every 15 minutes.” Skoochy grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her away. “Yeah, cute, isn’t she?” he said sarcastically. “You ready to go?”

“Uh huh,” she answered. She started walking down the sidewalk. Skoochy leaned over to Jingfei’s left ear, “See you around brat.” Then, he walked down the way Jinora was going. With an annoyed look Jingfei shouted, “wrong ear genius!” He rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. He turned his attention back to Jinora. “What did she mean ‘wrong ear’?” she asked him. “She’s deaf in one ear,” he said as if it were something common. She turned to him in surprise, “Really? Just one?”

“Yeah, her left one,” he explained, “she’s blind in her right eye too.”

She looked back at the young girl who was now facing away from them. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before. How did that happen?” 

Skoochy shrugged, “I don’t know. I asked her once and she said it was a genetic mishap. Can’t say I 100% believe that but hey, it’s her business.”

“I guess so. So what do you want to do?” she finally asked.

He thought for a moment then said, “to be honest, I don’t know. I didn’t really think about it. What about you?”

She took a moment to think as well, “how about we go to the park?”

“The park?” he considered, “sounds good enough.”

She smiled brightly. “Great let’s go!” she grabbed his hand and ran in the direction of the park. Jinora didn’t seem to notice what the physical contact was doing to her new friend. He was blushing so hard, it felt like his cheeks were on fire.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Come on, it’s easy!” Jinora tried to convince the lounging boy beside her.

Skoochy watched as she balanced herself on the edge of a stone arched bridge over the pond. He found himself perfectly content with simply resting against the bridge. Jinora however was indifferent. “No thanks, I don’t want to,” he responded with no particular emotion. “Why not?” she asked, turning her head to him.

“I’m not the best with balance. I’ll leave that to you airbenders,” he said.

“Airbending has nothing to do with it. It’s just you evenly distributing the weight of your body,” she elaborated, “the main goal is stability.” “To put it simply,” Skoochy joked. “Just try it. PLEASE,” she gave him a look that made him cave. He sighed, then got up on the edge almost slipping when trying to stay still.

“Tighten your stomach,” Jinora coached and came forward a few steps. He did as she said. “Now hold your arms out to the side.” He did this too and was as well balanced as she was. “Good. Now try to focus on something to help keep your balance.” Skoochy listened and seeing as he was facing her, she was what he chose to focus on. He studied every detail on her calm face. When he had first met her, she seemed quiet and a bit shy. Now that he had gotten to know her better, he could see that she was peaceful but carefree and sociable. There wasn’t an ounce of negativity in her. And he liked that about her.

“Skoochy?” 

He snapped out of his focus. “Huh?” 

“Um, you’re kind of close.”

Skoochy now saw that he had subconsciously walked forward and his face was only a few inches away from hers. He backed up, embarrassed, then slipped off the bridge from a misstep. “Whoa!” Jinora grabbed him in a futile attempt to pull him up but she ended up falling with him. They made a big splash in the pond, causing the turtleducks and fish to flee. They sat up in the water, their soaked clothes clinging to them, their hair dripping wet. Skoochy grabbed his hat and put it back on his head. “Yeah, let’s not do that again.” Jinora moved her hair out of her face, “okay, just one more thing.” “What?” She answered his question by splashing water on him then covering her mouth laughing when seeing his face. He looked at her perplexed for a second before a devious smile came onto his face, “that’s it.” Then he retaliated by splashing her back. Their next five minutes were spent laughing and splashing water at each other.

After Jinora airbended them both dry, they headed back into the city. They walked in silence until Jinora suggested that they play 21 questions. 

Jinora begun, “okay, first question: Where do you live?”

“Xìnyǎng Orphanage, it’s on the other side of town,” he replied.

His answer caught her off guard. “You’re an orphan? I didn’t know that.”

“Didn’t expect you to. Okay my turn. What’s your favorite part of the city?”

She took a moment to think about it. “Downtown,” she decided. “Why do you pickpocket?”

It was now Skoochy’s turn to be surprised. Pickpocketing wasn’t something he ever felt the need to explain to anyone. He bit his lip and shrugged, “I guess you could say I have kleptomania. Or at least that’s what the shrinks call it.”

Jinora nodded, understanding but not completely satisfied with the answer. “Okay.”

“Favorite food?”

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm, that’s a tough one. You know, I wanna say dumplings but I’m gonna go with either fruit pie or seaweed noodles.”

“Seaweed noodles? That’s Water Tribe food, right?”

“Uh huh. Sometimes when I visit my Gran Gran in the South Pole we just sit together telling stories and eating seaweed noodles.” She happily recalled. “What’s your favorite food?”

“I’m not too choosy, so komodo chicken. It’s gamey but good.” He saw the unknowing look on her face. “Uh, y’know if you eat meat. I mean of course you don’t eat meat but-”

Jinora giggled, “Skoochy, it’s okay. I get it.”

Skoochy continued, “Right. Favorite color?”

“I like orange but if I had to wear a different color wardrobe, it would be red.” She considered the red shawl she wore. “Yours?”

“Never really had one. Do you or have you ever gone to school?”

“No, I’ve always been homeschooled.” Jinora looked away for a second. She had only considered school a few times. The thought of learning among other students and making friends was intriguing to her. “Do you have any other friends?” she asked.

He saw no point in hesitation. “Besides you? No. I don’t think I’ve ever had any real friends.” 

“I’m your first friend?” There was a gleam in her eye.

He realized that what she said was true. “Yeah, I guess you are.” She gave him a sincere smile, “I’m glad.” He smiled back at her. “It’s… my turn again, right?” She nodded at him.

Skoochy tried to think of a more anonymous question. “If you could be in two places at once, what two places would that be?”

“The Southern Air Temple and the Fancy Lady Day Spa,” she said without hesitation. 

“Okay, the first one I get, but why the second one?”

Jinora shrugged, “I’ve always wanted to try the cucumber sandwiches.” They both shared a laugh.

Suddenly Jinora gasped, “I got one! Do you have a nickname?”

“Not really. I mean this one girl at the orphanage calls me ‘dirt bag’ sometimes but I don’t think that counts. Got any phobias?”

She looked down for a moment. “Sometimes when I’m on my glider I think about what it would be like if I suddenly lost my airbending and fell out of the sky.” Her eyes closed and she winced. “And it scares me.”

Before he knew what he was doing, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder causing her to look up at him. “Hey, that wouldn’t happen. And if you're as good of an airbender as you seem, that definitely won’t happen.” His reassurance put a smile on his face. In all honesty, Skoochy surprised himself. Where did this supportive side come from? What happened to the blunt informant he had always known? That part of him seemed to fade away when he was with her.

“Thanks.” Her eyes wandered and she saw that city hall was ahead of them. “Hey can we cut the game short? I want to see if my dad’s in here.”

He looked over at the building, “sure.”

“You want to come in?”

“No, I’ll just stay out here.” He stood by a post as Jinora made her way to the entrance.

Inside, the residence seemed to be vacant. Jinora passed the multiple pillars and beams, went down the narrow walkway, and had gone all the way up to the fifth floor. Usually, Jinora wouldn’t be so intrusive, but she saw no harm in it. She finally found her father’s office, only to see that he was not inside. She gave a disappointed pout before a she thought of something. The young air nomad walked over to the desk and sat down in the chair. There were two yin-yang scrolls in front of her. After picking them up she cleared her throat, put on a serious face, and imitated her father, “Jinora, I need you to get these to Avatar Korra as fast as you can. The fate of the world depends on it.” Then, she held the scrolls to her chest and said, “I won’t let you down dad.”

“Councilman Tenzin,” the council page showed up in the doorway, “I’m afraid that there’s more news about the-” He now saw who he was talking to. Jinora felt a little silly for what she had just done and hoped that he hadn’t heard her. “You’re not Councilman Tenzin,” he stated. “No, I’m Jinora,” she said getting out of the chair. A light bulb went off in his head. “Oh yes! His daughter, of course.” He was quite relieved. “I came here to see my dad but he’s not here, is he?”

The man scratched his head, “No, I suppose not. I could’ve sworn that he came back up to his office but I guess he went to lunch with the rest of the council. It’s not urgent, is it? I could take a message if you want me to.” Jinora shook her head, “no that’s fine. Thanks anyway.” She bid him goodbye then left out the way she came.

Outside, Skoochy waited patiently for Jinora, killing time by counting Satomobiles and pick up trucks. He saw one Satomobile pull up on a curb near him. The car was obviously one of the latest models. It was a nice red color and it had a blue streak on it. The driver and passenger got out and Skoochy saw their faces. He groaned out loud, “you gotta be kidding me.”

Wiley walked across the street with Honey arm-and-arm. Don’t come over, don’t come over, he thought over and over in his head. And of course, they headed right towards him. Wiley gave him a cat-like grin, “Well, well, well. Look who’s out and about. They finally turn you loose?”

Skoochy kept a passive look on his face, “I’m not even trying to play with you today Wiley. Just walk away.”

“Why so blunt Skooch?” Skoochy almost winced, he hated being called that. “You in a bad mood or something.” He was actually quite the contrary. But he wasn’t about to let Wiley know that because he knew he would pry. So he just said, “not until you showed up.”

His comment didn’t take the amused smirk from Wiley’s face. Honey, on the other hand, scoffed, “how clever of you and totally unexpected.” She did her signature eye roll. That was one time too many for Skoochy. "You know what Honey? I hope that one day you roll those eyes of yours so far back that you get a permanent headache." Honey moved a bit closer to him, causing Wiley to grab her arm tighter. "Oh yeah? Well why don't you come a little closer so I can shove those words up your-"

It was that moment that Jinora came back. "Sorry I took so long Skoochy," she said before seeing the two teenagers in front of him. “Oh, hi.” They both were surprised to see her but Wiley put on a good face and held his hand out. “How are ya? Name’s Wiley, this is Honey,” he greeted. Jinora felt an odd vibe around him but still shook his hand, “I’m Jinora.” “Right, Tenzin’s kid.” Honey did not give her a friendly look, it was borderline defensive. “Yeah. So you know Skoochy?”

“Know him? I live with him,” he looked at Skoochy, “But I take it he didn’t tell you.”

“No he didn’t. Small world.”

“Not small enough,” Skoochy said with a bit of edge. Jinora could sense the tension between the two so she grabbed his arm. “Let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving,” she suggested. He agreed, albeit hesitantly, grateful for her interjection. She bid the two goodbye and they left in the opposite direction. As they left, he heard Honey say something. 

"Did you see how young she looked? What a cradle robber."

Jinora and Skoochy both pretended like they didn't hear her and moved on. After making sure that their attention was no longer on them, Wiley and Honey slipped into an alley.

Jinora and Skoochy eventually found a food cart at the side of the street. The vendor gave them a friendly smile. "Hey there kids! What'll it be?"

Jinora read down menu only to not find that very few things, save for the beverages, were vegetarian-friendly. She looked up at him, "I’m sorry but do you have anything with fruit or vegetables?"

The man tapped his chin, “well I do have some veggie wraps. They’re on a trial run, so they’re not on the menu yet.” Jinora smiled in satisfaction. “I’ll take one of those please.” He smiled and nodded. “I’ll take one too,” Skoochy told him. “Got’cha kid,” he turned around to prepare their food. Jinora turned to him, “you don’t have to get the same thing I got if you don’t want to.” He shook his head, “nah, I don’t mind. It’ll be a break from routine anyway.” An appreciative smile came unto her face. The vendor handed them their wraps with some napkins, “here you go kids. Enjoy.” They both paid then took a bite of their wraps and swallowed, then exchanged looks.

“Y’know, this is kinda leafy but it’s not half bad.”

“Not in the slightest,” she took another bite, this one larger. She heard Skoochy chuckle as she chewed her food. After swallowing, she said, “what?”

“You have some kale on your...” he waved his finger around the lip area.

Jinora looked down at her lip, “Oh!” she quickly got it off. “Uh thanks,” she said blushing. He smiled at her embarrassment, finding it cute. They both finished their wraps and were about to leave.

“Just leave me alone Kade!” 

They turned their heads to see a young girl having a heated argument with a big, thuggish looking guy. The girl was holding small pieces of paper in her hands. She wore a cropped dress shirt, a black blazer, a black skirt with suspenders, a necktie, black riding boots, and a bowler hat partially covering her finger waves. 

“What’s your problem?” he raised his voice at her.

She kept her voice even with his, not caring that they were in public. “You know good and well what it is. And I don’t appreciate you coming at me the way you are.”

“What? I just want to be friends,” he tried to grab her shoulder but she snatched away.

“Don’t give me that. You and I are not on good terms. So stop being so stupid.”

Kade seized her papers from her, “I’m sorry, stop being what?”

“Give those back,” she reached for them only to have him pull them away.

He pretended to ponder this, “okay, as long as I get to keep one.”

“I said no! Just give them back or-”

“Or what? You’ll tell daddy?” he teased while holding them above his head so that she couldn’t get them. Jinora and Skoochy were itching to act on this. It wasn’t until the boy pushed her to the ground that they did. Skoochy did a quick earthbending move to knock the guy off his feet and make him hit his head. When the papers in his hand flew in the air, Jinora used her airbending to maneuver it into a neat pile by the girl. They both ran over to her.

“Are you okay?” Jinora asked first. The girl rubbed her shoulder a bit. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Skoochy looked over at the guy to see that he was unconscious. “I think I hit him too hard,” he admitted. The girl looked over at him and shrugged, “he’s knocked out but he’ll be fine.” She picked up her papers. “Thanks for helping me out, here” she reached into the pile then handed them two half sheets of paper. When they looked they saw that they were two invitations to a party. More specifically a birthday celebration. “In Celebration of Guan,” Skoochy read aloud. She did a little hat tip, “that’s me. Pleased to make your acquaintances, um...”

“Jinora.”

“Skoochy.”

“Awesome names. So the time and date is on there. It’s like a ball so you can bring your family with you. There’s a special room where us kids can just hang out. You don’t have to come but I would really appreciate it.” She got up and dusted off her skirt. “Well, I gotta go. These won’t pass themselves out. Thanks again. See you around.” She left as merry as could be.

Jinora and Skoochy were stuck for a moment. “Well… that was unexpected.” Jinora nodded in agreement. “So it’s in a couple of weeks. Should we go? You know together? Or separate. Either way’s cool.” he asked. She smiled, “Yeah, we should. We can go over the details later.”

They hung out for a few more hours talking and goofing around before Jinora decided she should get home. Skoochy walked her to the port so that she could take the ferry. It took about half an hour for an acolyte to get there. Jinora flagged her down then turned to Skoochy. “I had a lot of fun today,” she declared. He put his hands in his pockets. “I did too. I’ll see you when I see you, okay?" “Yeah,” she looked over at the boat then wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her toes. He realized that she was hugging him and reluctantly hugged her back. She broke apart and boarded the ferry, “Bye Skoochy!” He waved dazed as she left. He made his way back to the orphanage, looking forward to when he would see her again.

 

In a dark alley, there was a cloaked person walking along the wall. They press into a wall, uncovering a secret passageway. After making sure there was no one around, they went in and covered it again. When the person made it down a flight of stairs into a room, several different weapons were pointed at them by other cloaked people. “Were you followed?” a male voice asked. “Of course not,” a gruff voice responded. The weapons were lowered. “This way,” ordered a female voice. They led the person through many pathways until they got to a room were a figure was seated at a desk. The chair was facing away from them but the figure, facing a mirror. “Your next appointment is here,” said another one. “Name?” the figure asked. “Niral.”

“Niral, huh, unusual. Well Niral. I’ve read your ‘application’ and I must say, it’s quite impressive.” The person made no movement. “Now, I’m not going waste time going over what you already know about this but I will tell you that this is not a game, it’s a commitment. Once you’re in, you’re in for good. You do not question my actions or my motives and you will be rewarded if you please me. Betray me and I’ll come back tenfold. Am I understood?” The person took off the hood to be revealed as a young girl with a scar across her forehead. “Absolutely.” The figure smiled and finally turned to her, “good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. That was MUCH longer than I remember. Nonetheless, it was still fun. Hopefully I will continue after this. See ya!


End file.
